I rowed my boat over the dark slick ocean, the chilly morning breeze causing me to shiver. I kept thinking about what I was just told, my father left because he had to, I am alive because of a mythical sea creature/fish people, I could become one if I'm not careful, and I have to leave because of all of this shit. I sighed as I continued on to Tortuga, since it was my best option to join a ship since most other docks on other islands/coasts didn't even allow women on board.
~~~~~~
I walked swiftly through the docks, avoiding the people around me with my hands in my pockets and eyes searching for a recruiting ship. I examined the ships, several worn out from battles and sea erosion and some looked almost too broken to stay afloat. Suddenly I was greeted by a voice, "Is that you Miss Ember?" I turn to find Ragetti standing a few feet behind me. I can't help the smile that appears on my face as I answer, "Oh hi Ragetti." He smiles in return revealing many yellow, an a few missing, teeth. "Why ar' you here Miss? I mean, most women avoid the docks," he questioned.
I smirked, "Well I'm not 'most women', an I need to get away from here for... personal reasons so I need to find a ship to possibly join." I looked at my feet, thinking he would say it was ridiculous that I, a women, would want to join a ship but all I heard was, "Well Captain Sparrow might allow ye to join our crew, we already have Anamaria." I couldn't believe my ears.
I smiled at him, "really? That would be amazing." He grinned back and motioned for me to follow him across the ship yard. I followed close behind him, trying not to lose sight of him. Soon the crowd thinned as we traveled towards the outer edge of the docks.
Eventually we came upon a large black mystical ship with dark torn sails, which caused my eyes to widen. Ragetti smiled at my amazed expression as he started to lead the way towards a strange looking man with dark brown dreadlocks with multiple beads hanging from his hair and beard. The man, who I presumed was the captain by his hat, was shaking a compass in his hand as if it was broken. I had seen him a few times at the bar, but I usually let the other serving girls serve him since I had heard he was a womanizer.
"Captain," Ragetti said in a small voice as he tapped his shoulder. He turned his at attention towards Raggetti as he put the compass into his pocket, "Yes?" "Captain, this is Ember. She needs a ship to join." he stated in a nervous voice. The captain placed his finger on his own chin as he looked me up and down. "Well, why should I let ya join my crew? Women always cause trouble." That made my face slightly red with anger, but I took a deep breath. "You already have one girl on your crew, besides I can get into places most men can't reach, like a small corner, or under a barrel, plus I'm a very skilled swordsmen." I stated looking him in the eyes.
"How are you with a pistol?" He questioned. "Well I know how to load the barrel with powder and a shell but I'm not very skilled at distance shooting. But I can fight with my hands and feet pretty well." I answered nervously.
"Well, why not? We will put you through a test run, see how it goes. But if you get together with Anamaria, you two better not start skeming behind me back." He said with a smirk as he walked back onto his ship, yelling orders to the crew who where bringing aboard barrels and crates of food, water, and other supplies.
I followed him from a good few feet away, unsure where I should help out. Eventually he turns to me again, "Go to me first mate, he knows where you will be needed." He gestured towards a stout man who seemed to be taking inventory of the crates being brought aboard. I nodded and quickly jogged over to receive my orders.
____time skip by the doctor ;-)___
I sat below deck, the ship was currently sailing towards a random destination the Captain set. So no one knew where we were going. My guess was a treasure expedition but I could never be sure, from the stories I've heard about the Black Pearl it could be anything.
I was currently on a break, so I was going through my spell book trying to see if there was a section on the creatures my mother described, "Women covered in scales from head to waist, and below that was a tail of a fish which can change into long scale covered legs. They where with giant sea creatures that rocked the ship an ate several men within its reach." I cursed under my breath as I searched the book for the hundredth time, it was hard to know what creature it was when there were several it could have been.
It could be a mutated mermaid, aggressive water sprites, or several others. My mom didn't give me much detail so there were many creatures I could be looking at. I sighed and clenched my fist in anger. Small sparks went off my hand but I quickly got a hold of them, then I heard a intake in breath, turned to see who it was, and only saw a figure running. My eyes widened as I quickly put my book into my bag and put it under a barrel no one ever goes near, since it was my corner barrel. I quickly ran up the creaky stairs onto the main deck.
I looked around, trying to find the mysterious figure, but saw no person rushing away. I sighed in annoyance and hoped they saw nothing or would tell no one. "An what are you doing below deck?" I heard a voice behind me, I turned an saw Jack leaning against the railing of the ship. I smiled timidly, "Just on break, decided to do a little reading, Captain."
"Hmm, nothing dangerous right?" He questioned with a small grin. "No just a old romance story I brought from home," I stated, hoping he couldn't see through my lie. "Well, this is your new home, so forget about your old home and move right into your new ship err home." He said rather fast. I held back a grin at his goofiness, most likely caused from the rum in the bottle he currently held. "Yes, Captain. But umm if I may ask where are we currently headed?"
He smiled at me leaning forward to whisper his reply, "To find immortality, dearie." His smooth voice caused me to blush for an unknown reason. I nodded, "Ok, but how? Are we going to become vampires or something?"
"No dear, we are searching for the Golden apples of legend," he whispered into my ear.
